To, Shri Digamber Kamat, Hon' ble Chief Minister of Goa. Date: 25-04-2008 Sub: Lapse in procedures in Goa Badminton Association ( GBA) Elections
We, the undersigned, specifically state and submit as under: 1. The Goa Badminton Association is not functioning in the best interest and spirit of badminton in the State. The Association has been cornered by a group of persons who have been holding on to the reigns of power for several years now and who are hell-bent in clinging on to power at all costs, abusing the laws of the land and violating all kinds of democratic norms. 2. Far from being concerned with the uplift of badminton, their high-handedness, tunnel-vision policies and their arbitrary and undemocratic style of functioning has allowed the sport to go down by several notches in the State. The condition of badminton in Goa is going from bad to worse because its Secretary Narahar Thakur and its President Richard Vaz are running the Goa Badminton Association as a private fiefdom. 3. The Goa Badminton Association has committed several gross and serious irregularities in its functioning, particularly with the Elections held on 24th April 2008. The entire process of Elections was done in a very fraudulent, deceptive and illegitimate manner and in utter violation of Government Guidelines for recognitions and much against the provisions of their own Constitution. 4. The outgoing President Mr. Richard Vaz who has been holding on to power for close to 2 decades now was re-elected for another term despite the Constitution and guidelines for recognition clearly stipulating that no office-bearers shall hold office consecutively for more than two terms. On this ground itself, the entire election to the Committee of the Goa Badminton Association becomes illegitimate and should be declared as null and void. 5. The entire Election process has been done in a hush-hush manner. No Notices were served to the various clubs affiliated to the Goa Badminton Association. Our Club (Panjim Badminton Club) representative too received a telephonic communication a few days back pertaining to the schedule of a meeting whose agenda was to discuss the future state of affairs to be pursued but was shocked when this turned out to be an election meeting. 6. We also condemn the role played by the observer from the Sports Authority of Goa Shri Navin Acharya. Instead of acting in a fair and sincere manner as a neutral observer, Mr. Acharya has preferred to act like an agent of the Association and has allowed himself to be manipulated by the Office-bearers of the Association. 7. The Association has enlisted some members in the new committee who have virtually no love for the sport and but who wish to be there in the committee only for the purpose of enhancement of their profile in their portfolio. In the past, such persons have been seen doing nothing for the benefit of this sport in Goa but these same persons so religiously turn up to get them photographed during the Camps and Major Ranking tournaments. 8. The Goa Badminton Association gets financial grant from the Sports Authority of Goa on a yearly basis for the development and promotion of badminton in the State. Even recently, the Senior Nationals were held in Goa and the Goa Badminton Association received grants running into several lakhs of rupees for the same. When such huge sums were received by the GBA, there should have been greater transparency in its functioning and accountability for the utilization of this public money. The outgoing committee sadly did not present the Audited Statement and Report of the previous year's expenses to the GBA members. This is another act of blatant irregularity. 9. The Entire Election Meeting should be declared as null and void, particularly because all the rules and guidelines pertaining to the tenure of office bearers, the manner of conducting free and fair elections, the holding of Annual General Body meeting, notice of meetings, no confirmation of the rules, regulations, notice at the AGM, etc have been abused and violated. Prayer In lieu of the facts and circumstances stated hereinabove, we therefore urge the Hon' ble Chief Minister to: A. Issue an appropriate order and direction to the Sports Authority of Goa directing it to declare the Elections of the GBA held on 24th April 2008 as null and void. B. To hold fresh elections to the committee of the Goa Badminton Association, and to appoint a sincere and efficient observer who shall oversee and ensure that the entire Electioneering process is held in a fair and transparent manner. C. Issue an appropriate order and direction to the Sports Authority of Goa directing it to enquire into how government funds have been utilized by the Goa Badminton Association and to ensure proper audited accounting of the same. D. If necessary, appoint an independent body to look into the state of affairs of the Goa Badminton Association and look into its functioning which is widely perceived to be against the interests of badminton in the State and to de-recognize the same in case of gross and blatant irregularities. Yours sincerely Shashant M. Naik Goa State Badminton Player & Sandeep Heble Badminton Player